Quick Shot: The ABC's of Death

2012
Directed by: Various
Category: Horror

Personally, I've never been a big fan of anthologies. There's always an equal number of bad segments that go along with the good ones, and this one is no exception. However, on the plus side, with 26 different stories and only a slightly over 2 hour running time, you know the segments are literally only a few short minutes each. So if they suck, then you don't have to suffer through those particular stories for too long.

The ABC's of Death is a unique anthology. 26 different filmmakers from all over the world choose a letter from the alphabet, then with that letter they choose a form of death that starts with the letter they chose and are given free reign to come up with whatever they want that correspond with that letter. For example T is for Toilet, F is for Fart and D would be for Dogfight. And yes, these are the titles and forms of death for these letters in this anthology.

Not generally being a fan of these types of films, I have to say that I found this to be quite an entertaining experience overall. Sure, some of them sucked, but some of them were awesome. And some of them were just ok, and some were difficult to watch. Some were fascinating, ingenius, funny, shocking, strange and boring. There's also quite a few "WTF?!" segments, which are always fun to watch with a group of people. And of course there are a few oddball and weird ones that just don't make any sense, or even correspond with the letter they're supposed to correspond with. But that's just a few. So there's a healthy selection of different styles and tastes spanning 26 different shorts. Overall, you won't like every single one of them, but the ones you do like and the ones that do work for you, work exceptionally well. Granted, it's pretty uneven and all over the place, so you have to have a pretty open mind and maybe even a warped sense of humor to get through some of these.

As far as the directors go, if you're a filmgeek or a horror fan, you'll recognize some of their names, and some you won't. But that's where the fun comes in. You research who did what and what else they've done before and that leads to a slew of other films and titles you probably had never heard of before.

Overall I found this a trip worth taking. Ambitious for sure, and it is a trip, and even a mindfuck in some instances. I'm still trying to process the onslaught of "WTF?!" from the very last segment for the letter Z, which stands for Zetsumetsu (Extinction). Seriously. What the fuck?! I loved it, but man that was an insane few minutes.